


Empyrean Abattoir

by cl0wnf11sh



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, Angst, M/M, One Shot, i think, rebellion AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-14
Updated: 2017-11-14
Packaged: 2019-02-02 09:46:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12724245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cl0wnf11sh/pseuds/cl0wnf11sh
Summary: "Fire at will."None of his men ever noticed how his smile never reached his eyes.





	Empyrean Abattoir

Eridan was coming up on his seventh wriggling day when it happened. 

He'd known the person he considered his best friend for a long time, now- they'd met through that irritating dirtbag Captor, and he'd expected anyone friends with that shitstain to be equally irritating, but he'd found the easily-angered troll sending him wall after wall of flowery epithets in blocky grey text strangely endearing. They'd found a few shared interests, and after perigrees of messaging each other almost every day he'd begun to feel the usual treacherous red feelings tugging at his pusher. God dammit. Every fucking time. 

Eridan had decided, right then, that he wasn't going to let that happen this time. He wasn't going to fall for a potential friend and mess it all up and have them abandon him again. He'd just suppress any potential romantically-inclined feelings he might be having about this carcinoGeneticist (his name was Karkat, he'd said), and have a good friend to chat with for once in his goddamn life. 

But one day, sweeps later, Karkat didn't respond to his messages. That was ok, sometimes his connection went down for a day or so, he lived in a low-caste area. Soon enough, it was a week, and Eridan was seriously considering going to visit him in person before a news story on his husktop caught his eye. 

_Illegal Blood Mutant, Karkat Vantas, Successfully Discovered And Culled By Drones- Alternia Rejoices As Another Weakness In Their Mighty Species Is Scoured Away!_

He'd turned his husktop off, then, and hadn't opened it again for a week.

\---

Feferi had told him that he was being overdramatic, that he hadn't even known him that well, really, why is he being so whiny all of a sudden? Things like this happen every day.

He hadn't really payed attention- he hadn't been paying attention to anything lately, just numbly going about his duties. He'd stopped to listen, though, when she confided in him about a rebellion movement she'd started to bring justice to disenfranchised trolls. Maybe, a few sweeps or even perigrees ago, he would have been aghast. Might've even reported her. 

Now, though, he just asked her how he could help.

\---

Captain Eridan Ampora of Her Imperious Condensation's Royal Fleet had been undercover for six sweeps, and involved in rebel operations for five more before that.

He'd been informed, when it came time for Ascension, that he had the perfect background to be a plant in Her military forces. As a young violetblood, that was already the profession expected of him, and with his background of typical casteist beliefs he'd fit right in. The people that had prepared him for his duties had been laughably scared of him, no matter how much they tried to cover it up, just like the company he'd been keeping for the last long, long length of time.- the idea of letting in a violetblood like him, one of the very highbloods their heiress was supposed to deliver them from, carry out their duties was suspect at best, but at the same time, his caste made him an important resource. No lowblood or midblood could get the access he could, and anyway, he was very firm in his rejection of the Empire. 

That night, when he saw that news article, had broken something in him. Maybe before, he would have smiled at another success for the Empire, but every mutant was someone's best friend. 

Every mutant was someone's flushcrush.

He couldn't do much, though, without attracting suspicion. He could slip military positions and planned raids to the rebels through an encrypted channel once a lunar cycle, and he could occasionally do what he could to protect friends of the resistance, but anything suspicious and they'd look closer, they'd find his history of communication with later-culled mutants at a young, impressionable age, they'd look even closer- and then everything would go to shit. For him, at the very least. 

And he had to play the part. He always had to play the part. 

He leans over the control panel of his warship, steadying the tiny tremor in his hand as he stares down the tiny rebel fighter jet in their viewport, a toothy grin curling across his lips. Just picture Karkat, he thinks. Picture his face, from the rare times that they'd vidchatted or that one night he'd spent at his hive. If he keeps doing this, trolls like Karkat will live. 

"Fire at will."

None of his men ever noticed how his smile never reached his eyes.

\---

About a sweep into his service, when he had heard that Feferi had "resigned" from her post as leader of the rebellion and someone new had been chosen, he found himself smiling. He knew someone would eventually look closer at her plans for a new Alternia, and he couldn't summon the flush ache he used to feel for her anymore even if he wanted to.

He couldn't help wondering who the new leader was, though. The report only stated that they'd remain anonymous for their safety, and he only got communication back from the resistance very rarely. Hopefully they'd be better.

\---

Seven sweeps.

Seven sweeps Eridan had been undercover before he was recalled from the line of duty, and he couldn't figure out how to feel. Relieved? Sure. Maybe. As far as the Empire was concerned, Eridan Ampora was dead in a freak airlock accident, and he'd been given an apartment in a major rebellion settlement where trolls lived outside of the grasp of Imperial forces. Mostly he just felt empty. What is he supposed to _do,_ now, anyway? Is he expected to take up scrapbooking? 

Before he's released into the settlement, a cloaked bunker he's fairly sure is the size of a city, one of the guards stops him and tells them that the leader of the resistance wants an audience with him. Something about thanking him for his service, apparently. He goes along with it, half-amused, but his stomach drops through his feet when he finally walks into the leader's office and sees him. 

A tall, stocky troll with wild, short-cropped hair stood before him. A troll with nubby horns, and an overbite, and a face stuck in a scowl. 

A troll with searing red eyes. 

He looks different, but it's still him.

"You must be the undercover agent that returned recently. I'd just like to personally-" 

"..Kar?" 

Karkat Vantas, Second Signless and leader of the Third Rebellion, stepped back slightly, eyes widening. 

"What- Eridan? What are you- is that really you, how long as it been? I didn't know-" 

He stares at him, hands shaking, fins flared in anger and confusion as he interrupts with a dangerously unsteady voice. "You're _dead,_ Kar. You died." 

"My death was faked by the Cult of the Signless, Ampora, it was for my own safety, now, please, get a hold of yourself-" 

Eridan can't think. He can barely breathe, he can feel his bloodpusher thumping like it's going to pop out of his chest. Making a noise in the back of his throat like he's being stabbed, he rakes his claws across Karkat's desk, pupils slitlike and teeth bared. He's barely aware of the words he's hearing as the guards to either side of Karkat draw their pistols. 

"He's raging, someone-"

"Get help, fucking crazy seadweller-"

"Don't hurt him-"

He feels a sharp pain in his shoulder, and then there's something blurring his vision. A second later he's collapsing to the floor in a heap, and everything goes dark.

\---

Hours later, he wakes up in the infirmary, strapped down to a cot with a pounding headache that threads itself up and down his horns and into the base of his neck. He stares at the ceiling, vision fuzzy and head pounding.

A few seconds later, he just closes his eyes again.

**Author's Note:**

> Welp, I got an Idea and slammed this oneshot out while my laptop was out. Keep in mind that I'm without a beta, so please tell me if I makes weird typo anywhere. Or just if you want to say something about this fic, I love getting comments!
> 
> This probably won't be continued, so you can pretty much imagine any resolution you want, but if I do end up eventually continuing it, it's probably going to be, uh. 
> 
> Less sad. 
> 
> Title is from the song of the same name by Of Montreal. Recommended listening.


End file.
